Meet the 2024 UW Combined Fund Drive featured nonprofit: Northwest Education Access
Every year, the UW Combined Fund Drive (CFD) spotlights a nonprofit organization doing amazing work to make our communities — locally, nationally and globally — healthier and more resilient.
We are excited to announce that the featured nonprofit for the 2024 UWCFD workplace giving campaign is Northwest Education Access.
Founded in 2002, Northwest Education Access (NWEdA) provides comprehensive individualized support to help low-income young people build their own path to higher education and beyond. They provide the care and support to get young people on their own track to success.
Rather than a one size fits all approach, NWEdA meets students where they are and helps them get on the right educational track for the individual student. That can run the gamut from GRE to PhD. They help students navigate the complexities of the education system and celebrate the milestones students reach on the way.
To do so, Northwest Education Access:
- Provides personal attention, mentorship, technical assistance, and moral support to low-income young people navigating post-secondary education.
- Connects low-income young people with information and resources and supports them in creating an individualized plan to meet their higher education goals.
- Advocates for and with low-income young people and empowers them to develop their own voices as they pursue their higher education.
- Provides financial resources that help low-income young people access higher education and meet their basic needs while in school.
How it started
In the early 2000s, Dr. Polly Trout was volunteering to help homeless youth in Seattle’s University District earn GEDs and transition to college. But she found this population encountered a tremendous number of barriers to higher education. Dr. Trout founded Seattle Education Access (SEA) in 2002 as a drop-in center to support homeless and low-income youth to overcome barriers and succeed in college.
In 2020, SEA formally changed its name to Northwest Education Access to reflect the fact that it had been serving students far beyond Seattle for many years. NW Education Access is continuing its growth into Pierce and Snohomish Counties.
How it’s going
While other college access programs assist students in traditional high schools to transfer directly to higher education, NW Education Access is the only college access organization in Washington State that centers re-engaging out-of-school young people who have encountered significant barriers to completing their high school or college education.
In the 2023-24 school year, NW Education Access served 903 students. Of those students served, 84% were people of color, 34% had experienced homelessness, 71% were first-generation high school graduates and 47% were the first in their families to attend college.
A sustained, student-centered model
Northwest Education Access believes that every student has their own journey. They take a life-centered, supportive approach to education at the student’s pace. It factors in the student’s full life and responsibilities. NWEdA staff assess the student’s need as an individual learner and build a bridge that will help them reach their goals. They work with their students for as long as it takes to help them succeed.
Support NW Education Access
The easiest way to lend your support to the important equity work of Northwest Education Access is to give money through this year’s Combined Fund Drive campaign. You can make a one-time gift or set up a monthly payroll deduction through the UWCFD.
You can also host a fundraiser, attend a fundraising event or volunteer as a mentor or tutor or by lending your skills as a videographer, organizer or event planner.
About the UWCFD campaign
The 2024 UWCFD campaign — our 40th anniversary! — kicks off October 16. Discover ways to get involved here.
Past UWCFD featured nonprofits include the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Seattle, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), Low Income Housing Institute, Northwest Harvest, Summit Assistance Dogs and Be The Match.
Each organization benefitted from the increased visibility of being featured by the UWCFD — as well as a healthy boost in one-time and annual donations from UW faculty, staff and retirees.